Convention No. 108
concerning Seafarers' National Identity Documents

The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation, 

Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, and having met in its Forty-first Session on 29 April 1958, and 

Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to the reciprocal or international recognition of seafarers' national identity cards, which is the seventh item on the agenda of the session, and 

Having decided that these proposals shall take the form of an international Convention, 

adopts the thirteenth day of May of the year one thousand nine hundred and fifty-eight, the following Convention, which may be cited as the Seafarers' Identity Documents Convention, 1958: 

Article 1
1. This Convention applies to every seafarer who is engaged in any capacity on board a vessel, other than a ship of war, registered in a territory for which the Convention is in force and ordinarily engaged in maritime navigation. 
2. In the event of any doubt whether any categories of persons are to be regarded as seafarers for the purpose of this Convention, the question shall be determined by the competent authority in each country after consultation with the shipowners' and seafarers' organisations concerned. 

Article 2
1. Each Member for which this Convention is in force shall issue to each of its nationals who is a seafarer on application by him a seafarer's identity document conforming with the provisions of Article 4 of this Convention: Provided that, if it is impracticable to issue such a document to special classes of its seafarers, the Member may issue instead a passport indicating that the holder is a seafarer and such passport shall have the same effect as a seafarer's identity document for the purpose of this Convention. 
2. Each Member for which this Convention is in force may issue a seafarer's identity document to any other seafarer either serving on board a vessel registered in its territory or registered at an employment office within its territory who applies for such a document. 

Article 3
The seafarer's identity document shall remain in the seafarer's possession at all times. 

Article 4
1. The seafarer's identity document shall be designed in a simple manner, be made of durable material, and be so fashioned that any alterations are easily detectable. 
2. The seafarer's identity document shall contain the name and title of the issuing authority, the date and place of issue, and a statement that the document is a seafarer's 400 identity document for the purpose of this Convention. 
3. The seafarer's identity document shall include the following particulars concerning the bearer: 
(a) full name (first and last names where applicable); 
(b) date and place of birth; 
(c) nationality; 
(d) physical characteristics; 
(e) photograph; and 
(f) signature or, if bearer is unable to sign, a thumbprint. 
4. If a Member issues a seafarer's identity document to a foreign seafarer it shall not be necessary to include any statement as to his nationality, nor shall any such statement be conclusive proof of his nationality. 
5. Any limit to the period of validity of a seafarer's identity document shall be clearly indicated therein. 
6. Subject to the provisions of the preceding paragraphs the precise form and content of the seafarer's identity document shall be decided by the Member issuing it, after consultation with the shipowners' and seafarers' organisations concerned. 
7. National laws or regulations may prescribe further particulars to be included in the seafarer's identity document. 

Article 5
1. Any seafarer who holds a valid seafarer's identity document issued by the competent authority of a territory for which this Convention is in force shall be readmitted to that territory. 
2. The seafarer shall be so readmitted during a period of at least one year after any date of expiry indicated in the said document. 

Article 6
1. Each Member shall permit the entry into a territory for which this Convention is in force of a seafarer holding a valid seafarer's identity document, when entry is requested for temporary shore leave while the ship is in port. 
2. If the seafarer's identity document contains space for appropriate entries, each Member shall also permit the entry into a territory for which this Convention is in force of a seafarer holding a valid seafarer's identity document when entry is requested for the purpose of-- 
(a) joining his ship or transferring to another ship; 
(b) passing in transit to join his ship in another country or for repatriation; or 
(c) any other purpose approved by the authorities of the Member concerned. 
3. Any Member may, before permitting entry into its territory for one of the purposes specified in the preceding paragraph, require satisfactory evidence, including documentary evidence, from the seafarer, the owner or agent concerned, or from the appropriate consul, of a seafarer's intention and of his ability to carry out that intention. The Member may also limit the seafarer's stay to a period considered reasonable for the purpose in question. 
4. Nothing in this Article shall be construed as restricting the right of a Member to prevent any particular individual from entering or remaining in its territory. 

Article 7
The formal ratifications of this Convention shall be communicated to the Director-General of the International Labour Office for registration. 

Article 8
1. This Convention shall be binding only upon those Members of the International Labour Organisation whose ratifications have been registered with the Director-General. 
2. It shall come into force twelve months after the date on which the ratifications of two Members have been registered with the Director-General. 
3. Thereafter, this Convention shall come into force for any Member twelve months after the date on which its ratifications has been registered. 

Article 9
1. A Member which has ratified this Convention may denounce it after the expiration of ten years from the date on which the Convention first comes into force, by an Act communicated to the Director-General of the International Labour Office for registration. Such denunciation should not take effect until one year after the date on which it is registered. 
2. Each Member which has ratified this Convention and which does not, within the year following the expiration of the period of ten years mentioned in the preceding paragraph, exercise the right of denunciation provided for in this Article, will be bound for another period of ten years and, thereafter, may denounce this Convention at the expiration of each period of ten years under the terms provided for in this Article. 

Article 10
1. The Director-General of the International Labour Office shall notify all Members of the International Labour Organisation of the registration of all ratifications and denunciations communicated to him by the Members of the Organisation. 
2. When notifying the Members of the Organisation of the registration of the second ratification communicated to him, the Director-General shall draw the attention of the Members of the Organisation to the date upon which the Convention will come into force. 

Article 11
The Director-General of the International Labour Office shall communicate to the Secretary-General of the United Nations for registration in accordance with Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations full particulars of all ratifications and acts of denunciation registered by him in accordance with the provisions of the preceding Articles. 

Article 12
At such times as may consider necessary the Governing Body of the International Labour Office shall present to the General Conference a report on the working of this Convention and shall examine the desirability of placing on the agenda of the Conference the question of its revision in whole or in part. 

Article 13
1. Should the Conference adopt a new Convention revising this Convention in whole or in part, then, unless the new Convention otherwise provides: 
a) the ratification by a Member of the new revising Convention shall ipso jure involve the immediate denunciation of this Convention, notwithstanding the provisions of Article 9 above, if and when the new revising Convention shall have come into force; 
b) as from the date when the new revising Convention comes into force this 668 Convention shall cease to be open to ratification by the Members. 
2. This Convention shall in any case remain in force in its actual form and content for those Members which have ratified it but have not ratified the revising Convention. 

Article 14
The English and French versions of the text of this Convention are equally authoritative.